Bikol/Pronunciation

Bikol pronunciation can be difficult because of lexical stress and the presence of glottal stops which are normally not written in everyday writing.

This first lesson is essential for you to be able to pronounce the words that we have printed in this book.

Here we will learn a few basic words, and how to pronounce them.

Vowels

In Bikol, vowels are pronounced like in Spanish. Note that in Bikol orthography, two consecutive vowels are pronounced separately.

Letter	IPA	Pronunciation of the letter (English approximation)
A a	a	far
E e	e	hen
I i	i	see
O o	o	order
U u	u	soon

Before the arrival of the Spanish, Bikol had three vowel sounds: /a/, /i/, and /u/; This was expanded to five vowels with the introduction of Spanish words.

Consonants

Letter	IPA	Pronunciation of the letter (English approximation)
B b	b	bee
K k	k	key
D d	d	dough
G g	g	gold
H h	h	heat
L l	l	let
M m	m	me
N n	n	nice
NG ng	ŋ	song
P p	p	pea
R r	r	raw
S s	s	sea
T t	t	tea
W w	w	weak
Y y	y	you

Some consonants are borrowed from Spanish and English and are used in writing names of places and personal names.

Letter	IPA	Pronunciation of the letter (English approximation)
C c	k, s	call, corn, cure (before a, o, u) like c in cell, cinder (before e or i)
F f	f	fine
J j	h	h in ham
LL ll	lj	mllion
Ñ ñ	nj	canyon
Q q	kw	quest (always with a silent u)
V v	b	pronounced the same way as b (see above) like b in bow.
X x	ks	like x in flexible like ss in hiss (at beginning of a word) like h as in he in the family name Roxas
Z z	s	s in supper

Digraphs

Some digraphs appear in Spanish and English loan words.

Letter	IPA	Pronunciation of the letter (English approximation)
diy	ʤ	just
ts	tʃ	chew
siy	ʃ	shoe
niy	nj	canyon
ly	lj	million

Diphthongs

In the spelling of many places and personal names, ao is used and is pronounced as in how just like the Spanish way of spelling.

Letter	IPA	Pronunciation of the letter (English approximation)
aw	aʊ	how
iw	ɪʊ	kiwi
ay	aɪ	high
oy	oɪ	boy